Chronicles: The Legacy of Redwall
by ShiniNeko
Summary: Glimpses into the annals of anthropomorphic history, from the ages before Redwall Abbey was built to the technological future of animal kind.
1. Default Chapter

Ok, before we begin, I'd like to clear a little something up. See, I've been getting a lotta calls and  
the voice mails and e-mails have just been piling up and clogging up the cable lines, and I think the  
mail man's gonna use the next sack of mistaken fan mail he has to truck to my house to brain me,  
so let's get one thing straight for all the terribly confused people out there: I am not, repeat, NOT  
Brian Jacques. I have never been Brian Jacques, nor will I ever become Brian Jacques. As such a  
person other than Brian Jacques, I do not own the Redwall series, "Seven Strange and Ghostly  
Tales", or the town of Liverpool (altho I soon will own that, and o so much more of the  
world....). Hell, I'm not even British; I'm a high school student of German descent who thinks  
she's a Japanese cat-girl, among other things....  
So, now that that matter's been clarified, or at least I desperately hope, read what you will &  
praise or bitch about it how you will.  
(Sorry, only the prologue's done as of yet, & I have no idea how many chapters I'm gonna write,  
but not to fear - they will definitely get longer & presumably get better; we'll just see where the  
twisted pathways of my mind lead us. "Us" being Me, Myself, and the invisible moose that lives  
underneath my window named Herve)  
  
"No one could recall the Time of Awakening, the Dawning of a new age and evolution of  
animal kind. The ancient records had either been lost or destroyed; even the Memories had been  
forgotten over the thousands of years since the humans had instilled them in the first of their  
successes.  
Ages in the past, before the time of intelligent beasts, before the time science and religion  
recognized as the beginning of their development, human kind was coming to the end of its reign  
as the top, most intelligent species on the face of the planet. Humans, the creatures of fantasy and  
long-forgotten folklore, the antagonists of long-banned fairy tales, the monsters that still keep a  
few children whose parents dare to speak of them awake and shivering at night. They had walked  
the Earth, discovered fire, music, language, and technology. They had had families, and had  
known what it was to love. They had traded on a worldly scale. They had kept their system of  
dating, which they termed Before Common Era and Common Era, or B.C.E. and C.E., on a  
highly scientific basis, and yet based the years they had on the birth of one of their most highly  
regarded religious figures. Despite all of their good and reasonable qualities, they also fought  
amongst their own kind, terrible wars, and created weapons of mass destruction, which a few  
foresaw would ultimately lead to their downfall.   
A secret network of human scientists began experimenting on animals, which at that time were  
underdeveloped and unintelligent. The humans began tampering with nature, stimulating genes  
and areas of the brain, making the animals more like them, in the hopes that when their nuclear  
weapons brought on the apocalypse, they could leave a legacy of intelligent beings to start over  
again, heal the scarred planet, and live in harmony with nature, their mother. The project soon  
spread throughout all the human nations, under the very noses of their corrupted totalitarian  
governments. The primates were of course the first, being the closest relatives to the humans.  
However, too much genetic manipulation produced horrible monsters the humans themselves  
never dreamed they could have evolved into. All experiments declared unfit for release were  
disposed of, decimating the numbers of the chimpanzees and gorillas, and nearly wiping out the  
last of the endangered orangutans. By the time the humans' techniques were perfected, they had  
all but exterminated their cousin primates. Before they had brought their new order of animals up  
to their level of intelligence and physical development, they had exterminated themselves. The  
underground laboratories were abandoned for the service of the war-crazed governments; the last  
human battle was fought; their civilization brought itself crashing down.  
Animal kind arose from the ashes, altered only slightly in shape and intelligence, but armed  
with the Memories of their human aids, stored in their brains and nearly incorporated with their  
Instinct. The first fruit of these Memories was language, from which came organized society.  
Animals developed rapidly from then on, far more rapidly than their human predecessors. Stories  
of their true origins were soon disregarded for the teachings of religions and culture, the first  
known examples of which were ironically of human origin, drawn from the Memories. After  
technology and scientific thinking were discovered, animal kind began to resent and fear its  
history with humans, believing that the Memories were a threat, giving the terrible knowledge of  
nuclear destruction to any power-hungry individual with a sharp mind and a cruel will. Rulers and  
governments quickly erased any traces of human existence they could find. Science and religion  
worked together to alter records and impose teachings of faith that accounted for the history of  
animal kind. A special minority who still retained the Memories were systematically rooted out  
and eliminated. Yet for all their hard work, there were things and creatures looked over and  
missed, voices of truth left unsilenced.   
  
  
Chronicles:  
The Legacy of Redwall 


	2. Chronicle 1: Beyond the Light

Beyond the Light

Chronicle 1: Beyond the Light

Dust swirled up off the ground as a faint breeze stirred over the silent land, exposing the bones of vultures long starved of the dead they had once feasted upon. The entire planet was wreathed in silence, dark and still as death. An abrupt glow on the eastern horizon, however, was soon to become the blessed and cursed herald of its rebirth. For the first time in years, the sun's warm rays pierced through the cold layers of ashes from a lost civilization. 

The smokey clouds cleared quickly over the next few weeks, although the sky was still a sickly gray as a tiny creature poked cautiously out of a scrap heap that had once been part of a building. Seeing the bright ball looming high above, it made a frightened noise and scurried back into the shadows. It didn't like the ball. It reminded the animal too much of the Light.... 

Many days passed before the creature dared to venture out into the open again, but the next time it came out, the sky was dark again, as it had always been. Stopping under the cover of a piece of sheet metal to think, the little one felt memories stirring in its head. The sky had always been dark, although sometimes less, sometimes more. Always dark....hadn't it been, always? Thinking harder, the creature began to recall, brokenly at first, the days before the darkness, when it had found its way to the outside world...escaped. Escaped what? Escaped from something...something far below the ground. Other creatures...they were hairless, giant, terrifying. They had put it in strange, glowing, noisy, cramped places and poked sharp things under its skin, and made it run around and do things it didn't understand, moving it, always moving it, carrying and pushing and poking and cutting and staring endlessly with beady white eyes. And then it had escaped. And then, the small, timid animal had seen the sky....Not the sky it saw now, but a different sky. This sky was the color of the barren earth, but the one it had seen...that sky had been bright, like some of the liquids the hairless ones had put into its body. Bright, vibrant, warm...it gave off warmth, from something up high...the bright ball. The bright ball had been in the sky when first the creature had emerged from the cold prison of the terrible hairless ones. It was not the Light. It was something different. Something good. Suddenly the animal felt cold and afraid in the darkness. It wanted the bright ball to be in the sky again. Almost as if the thought were a summons, the skyline in front of it took on a crimson color, like the blood that had stained the waters years before. The color grew lighter with the approach of the sun, but it scared the little creature. The glow reminded it of the fires that had swept the land after the Light had appeared. Drawing as far back under the sheet as it could, it curled up into a tiny, cowering ball of fur. 

When at last the animal looked up and out of its hiding place, there was no glow. Instead, the bright ball shone down on its head, bringing a gentle warmth to its fur, and a calm to its fears. The bright ball was good. If it now rose again after so long, perhaps that meant that other things would right themselves as well. The sky and the earth would turn back to their natural colours, and the little creature could go back to the others of its own kind, who surely must have escaped by now as well. Its own kind.... 

The creature squealed as a sharp pain seared deep within its skull, and a blinding flash like the aweful Light returned burned its eyes. It woke up on the ground, on its side, wondering how it had gotten in that position. Its last thought rang clear through its head. Its own kind. But what exactly was its kind? The animal knew what they looked like; small, short-haired, long-tailed, with a blunt, cone-shaped head and tiny, delicate paws. And yet, the physical image gave rise to something else...a mental concept, one that encompassed all that it was and yet, more...a description...a name. "Mouse," the creature said, then jumped, startled at the strange noise that had come from its mouth. After a few moments of bafflement, it tried it again, uncertainly. "M...mo-ow-ss...mooouuse...mouse." Mouse. That was its name. That was what it was. 

Marvelling at its newfound power of sound-making, and at the wonderful new feeling of identity that came with its ability to name itself, Mouse set about naming the other things familiar to it. First was the good, warm bright ball in the sky. Concentrating hard on the feel of the description in its head, Mouse began to vocalize. "B...b-rha-it...b...rih-ite...bright. Bright! Bright...bo...b...bah...baaa-wl...bright...ball...bright ball. Bright ball." Although Mouse was happy that he had been able to form the new sounds, the name just seemed somehow lacking. Mouse thought it should have another name, a different one. Strangely, it felt as if Mouse already knew it, that he just had to remember...."S...sa...sssaaaaln?" It was close, but it still didn't sound quite right. "Ssssaaaa...sssssa...sa-suh...suh...nn....Sun!" There! That was the name of the bright ball. Sun. The little creature was very happy. It liked that things had names. It was Mouse, and the bright ball that warmed Mouse from the sky was Sun. 

All over the world, other creatures, big and small, were crawling out of the subterranean levels of collapsed structures, out into the light of the bright ball in the sky. They, too, were frightened at first. They, too, realized that the bright ball wasn't the horrible Light that had sent wind, flame, and death sweeping across the planet. They, too, remembered Sun, the time before the darkness when Sun had shone in the sky, giving warmth and comfort as it did now, the hairless ones and their tortures in captivity from the outside and Sun. They, too, remembered their names. 


	3. Chronicle 2: Spectres in the Mist

Chronicle 2: Spectres in the Mist

"Come here, Meimei! Get away from there! _Meimei!!_"   
Finally diverting her attention from the beetle she had been playing with, the little jerboa squeaked in fright and leapt out from under the patch of ferns just fast enough to save herself from being squashed by the huge, hairy black paw that came down with a loud thump. Meimei steaked towards her anxiously waiting mother, panting with fear, but barely stopped before she had to bound away again or be left behind. She cried out desperately, trying hard to catch up to her fleeing mother.   
"Mama! Mama wait for m-oof!"   
Not knowing where she was going, or that those ahead of her had stopped, Meimei cannoned into her older brother and knocked the two of them to the ground. He pushed her roughly away and was about to scold her indignantly, but she was already clinging and whimpering to her mother.   
"You...you ran so fast, Mama! Wh-why'd you have to run so fast and leave me? It was only Panda!"   
"You forget, Meimei," said her mother softly but sternly, checking her offspring over for any bumps or cuts. "You always forget what I teach you. When you see a big creature moving about in the forest, you keep away from that creature. Otherwise Tiger might find himself with a tasty little Meimei-snack! You only knew the scent was Panda because his paw almost stomped you flat!"   
Meimei, soured by the chiding, replied rudely, "Well why doesn't Panda watch where he walks? I think Panda's stupid! Ooow! Mama, Xiong hit me!"   
"Stop your foolish tongue, Meimei!" Xiong cuffed his sister about the ears a second time and lectured her gruffly. "Panda is a very wise and gentle creature. The stupid ones are those who don't show respect and get out of Panda's way, like you! You need to stop thinking you're the most important animal in this forest and have some regard for others." Xiong paced off, rubbing the spot on his back where Meimei had struck him. "Sometimes I wonder if you really think at all."   
Meimei turned her tearing eyes pleadingly on her mother. "Mama...."   
"Don't you 'Mama' me, daughter. Your brother speaks truly, however harshly. Your speed will not save you from all danger if you are not smart enough to avoid it. I don't want to see my child gobbled up by Tiger or squashed by Panda, but if she can only be weak, and a hinderance, like her father, perhaps the rest of her family would be better off without her."   
"But Da wasn't-" Meimei shrunk back at her mother's sharp look. "Yes, Mama," she mumbled miserably, bowing her head with shame. She hated the way her mother spoke when she lectured, as if "Meimei" wasn't her daughter, but a different creature; a stupid creature, only to be scorned. It had been that way with her father just before he had been taken by vicious Baboon, lamed and too slow to escape the grasping claws and fearsome fangs. But it hadn't been his fault that falling rocks had broken his leg, and before that he had been one of the strongest among their clan, matched only by his son, Xiong. Ever since their father was killed, Xiong had grown broodingly quiet and fiercely temperamental, especially towards Meimei. He was always the first to admonish her for running ahead, playing in streams, eating too much, even simply trying to talk to him, which he termed "idiotic prattling". All his chastising aggravated Meimei to no end, but secretly, each one of her brother's rebuke's also stung her to the heart. She could faintly recall a time when Xiong had ran and played and been scolded alongside her, had protected her from the brunt of their parents' wrath, had not just been her brother, but her friend. Her only friend.   
Glancing furtively at the rest of her family - all aunts, uncles, grandsires and -mothers or cousins - all she saw were shaking heads and waggling paws. Even the little ones, instead of taking some of the weight off those cold stares with giggles, immitated the disapproving frowns of their elders. Meimei sullenly hung behind the rest of the clan as they moved off to find an afternoon meal. 

On towards evening, her stomach once again complained very loudly. Meimei had decided not to eat with her family members if she was only going to get more harsh looks and scolding. Her hunger had put her in a fine temper, and she'd even sent one of her little cousins, the lot of whom had swarmed her and begun to tease, bawling to his mother with a lump raising on his head. That of course had only got her into more trouble, made her mother and brother angrier with her, and earned her her place at the back of the family unit indefinitely as a shamed child. Xiong, who had delivered the punishment as head of the family, had told her she had come within a hairsbredth of becoming shunned. _Just like Da_, thought Meimei. _They_ left _him behind to be eaten by Baboon. They didn't even care! And no one cares about me, either...._ Her stomach grumbled a reply. The clan, slightly blurred through a light mist that was forming as the day cooled, showed no signs of stopping. They were probably all still full and content from their browse, and wouldn't eat again until long after it was dark. No one would mind the little straggling female going hungry while they pushed on. She might as well have been shunned; it couldn't be any worse. Steeling her resolve with these thoughts, Meimei slowed, watched as the clan disappeared through the mists ahead of her, and stole off through the undergrowth to find something to eat. 

"Keep close to your parents, foolish children!" one of the elders towards the back of the clan admonished, herding several mischievous young jerboas in front of him. "You mind now, stay away from that shamed little female!" Once the young ones had been shooed forward, the elder turned his head and toned his voice low, so that the rest of the family might not hear the name of she who had been shamed spoken aloud.   
"Meimei, you hurry up and walk where I can see you this instant! The mist thickens, child, so stay close!"   
He waited, but Meimei did not come into sight.   
"Stop sulking, child, and come here now!"   
Nothing.   
"Meimei?" Stopping, he tried to peer into the mist, but could barely see past his nose. "Come out from wherever you're hiding; this is no time for games! Meimei!"   
A juvenille bounded up to him and tugged on his tail. "Hurry yourself, grandfather, or the clan will leave you behind. Where is the shamed child? She shouldn't be hanging back out of sight in this mist!"   
"I keep telling her that, but she won't come forward. I know you're out there somewhere, now come here right now and I will forget this incident! If you prefer not to be seen, I can tell Xiong to go ahead and declare you shunned!"   
"I don't think she's back here," said the other with a hint of concern. "Could she have circled around in front?"   
"Hrumph! Even I don't think the child would be that stupid. She knows she would surely be shunned if she dared to step out of her give place."   
That was all the juvenille needed to hear. He dashed off, calling, "Hurry along, grandfather! Xiong! Stop! Stop the clan!" Startled, family leapt out of his path left and right, and children scampered wildly about, thinking it great fun. Once general order was restored, Xiong stalked irritably towards the younger jerboa who had caused all the commotion.   
"What's the meaning of this, Shuang? In the name of all things sacred, did you have to scatter the clan about? Children! Back to your parents immediately!"   
"I'm very sorry, Xiong....I, I become too rash when I'm flustered."   
"Well, out with it, then. What's all this madness about?"   
"Mei- I mean, the shamed one is missing!"   
The elder male paused, his features unreadable. "You've looked for her? Surely she's only hiding?"   
"We couldn't see anything in this cursed mist," Shuang began defensively. He held the family head in very high regard, and didn't want to appear foolish. "My grandfather and I called to her many times, but she never responded, even when we threatened to punish her further. Even she knows she'd be shunned if-"   
"That's enough," Xiong cut him off, and immediately regretted the harshness of his words. He moderated his voice and patted his younger friend's shoulder. "You did all you could, Shuang. Albeit shamed, she is still my sister, my blood; I will look for her myself." Reactions to his statement ranged from open approval to outright dismay, but he left no room for discussion. "Meimei is a stubborn, wayward child, but she is as much my responsibility as anyone else's. And perhaps being lost in the forest will make her realize the importance of obeying her elders. I believe that is punishment enough for any child. Should I return with her, her shame will be lifted."   
A murmur of agreement rippled through the gathered family. Xiong's mother spoke softly, but so that all could hear. "You have until the sun sinks below the earth to find her, my son." She pointed towards the dim orange ball just visible below the foggy treeline. "If you do not return by then, you are both lost to us."   
Already he could see that she had curbed her anxiety over her children. She was strong, his mother, hardened by the loss of her mate. He only hoped he could be as strong if Meimei truly was lost. 

Xiong was growing anxious. He had been searching for what seemed like an eternity, and the pinkish glow of the sun was threateningly close to what he supposed to be the horizon - he couldn't tell because of the thick mist. Assuming that Meimei had wandered away from the clan, he had looked in almost every possible direction, but there was no sign of her.   
A cool breeze picked up, swirling the mists around him. And carrying a scent that made his hackles rise. Xiong was about to bolt for cover when a frightened squeak cut the air. Against all instinct, he made himself travel in its direction - towards the source of the blood-chilling scent.   
"Meimei! Is that you?"   
"Xiong!" It was Meimei's voice, only a stone's throw away. Hastening forward, Xiong saw his little sister huddled down in a quivering ball of fur. Something large loomed up from the mists, larger than Baboon, larger than Panda, and lithe like Tiger. But it smelled wrong, it moved wrong....Xiong found himself, like his sister, paralyzed by terror. He hugged himself to the ground, unable to tear his eyes away...and as suddenly as it had appeared, the Thing vanished into the mists.   
Xiong jumped and yelled as something grabbed him, but it was Meimei, burying her face in his fur and crying.   
"I...I was -hic!- so hungry...a-and I got -hic!- lost...." She went on sobbing with broken phrases in between about how scared she'd gotten and how sorry she was. Finally she calmed herself to mere sniffles.   
"Well I'm glad you've learned your lesson, little sister," said Xiong as he gently detached her from his tear-soaked fur. "Now hurry back to the clan with me - we only have until dark before we are declared lost, and the light is beginning to fade."   
Tears started running down Meimei's face again as she stared miserably at her paws. "I might as well be lost for all anyone cares. All the elders hate me, the young ones make fun of me, and you shamed me yourself! Nobody wants me around them, so why should I go back?"   
"Because I've spent all evening searching and calling for you, and now that I know you're alive I'm not going to let you be lost just because you're too blind to see how _much_ I care!"   
Her older brother's words hit Meimei like a slap in the face. She looked up at him and saw tears shining angrily in his eyes.   
"Ever since our father died I've had to look out for the entire clan, but I especially wanted to keep you safe. I never want what happened to father to happen to my baby sister, so I have to be hard enough to punish you when endanger yourself and those around you. Every time I hope desperately that it will be the last, but it never is, Meimei! You never seem to understand that I am trying my best to protect you, and teach you to protect yourself; you only see is mean, angry Xiong who hates you. What about now, Meimei? Will this be the last time you are punished? When I take you back to the clan and lift the shame that has been placed upon you, will it truly be lifted, or will you forever hold the shame of dishonoring your brother?" All the time he had been speaking, his voice had been growing quieter, the pain coming through more clearly. Finally, Xiong sighed, and spoke softly to Meimei for the first time since she had been small. "Please come back with me, Meimei. I want my little sister back."   
Meimei struggled with warring feelings. She was shocked! She was overjoyed! Xiong did care about her after all! She had her big brother back! He would forgive her and then they could play together like they used to and-   
Abruptly the rest of what he had said sank in. No...they couldn't run and play and get into trouble. Xiong led the clan, now. And he wanted to keep her out of trouble, out of danger, so she couldn't be bad anymore. Because she made her big brother hurt when she was bad.   
Instead of hugging the breath out of him like she'd been about to, Meimei merely nodded. "I wanna go back and see Mama, and I'll n-never be b-bad again...I-I promise," she finished through her mounting sobs.   
"Now now, none of that," said Xiong, gruff but quiet, as he awkwardly patted her head. "Be strong, like Mama. When we get back, you can tell her about the monster we saw."   
"W-what's a monster?"   
"A monster is what you nearly ran into when I found you. Few creatures have seen them, and even fewer survive to tell about it. Monsters are rare, but they're bad. They're something else...something not-animal. Come along, now, quickly before night comes. I know the way back." Xiong started off, Meimei following nearly at his heels.   
The mists were beginning to clear, and she could see the sun clearly now, red as blood, and half-below the earth. She sped up, wanting to be back to her family as soon as possible. A rustling noise to her flank made her heart leap into her throat, and she glanced quickly over her shoulder. There was nothing to be seen but eerie treeshadows in the dim red light.   
"Monsters," whispered Meimei to herself. 


End file.
